17 Comments

He liked nice hotels, bad ones more, this one best.

Great line! I really love noir!!

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Thanks, and thanks for your support, Jude. Glad you're enjoying this.

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Agreed, it really was a great line.

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I'm 'there' instantly.

This character 'Lars'. This, as yet and maybe never to named, city: which I've monikered, as placeholder, 'Noirville'. This 'best' hotel in Lars desiderata, 'The Acton'. 'Dark' is certainly the sense of the piece, established firmly by the closing period of Chapter 1. Specifics encountered so far have the sense of being jigsaw pieces but what's the big picture that's going to take shape? Are they jigsaw pieces form more than one puzzle so that there's more than one big picture going be to taking shape?

Yes Camila; yes, more please; I look forward to turning Wednesday's pages.

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Thanks, Rob. As this is serialized, and the first chapter is long, expect to be hanging with Lars as he copes with his various dilemas...a lot of cigarettes and a lot of whiskey...

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Ah! I have wondered, about whether the last full stop of this first instalment was the end of chapter or just the end of the beginning? Now I know. Thank you.

I've not been quite such a devotee of noir, hard-boiled gumshoe stories as you but I certain have read, and indeed re-read, the Philip Marlowe novels and watched, and re-watched, the movies based on Raymond Chandler's tough as teak character.

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I love how Beau Willimon phrased it: "As tough as a $2 steak." XD

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Chapter one in the book is equivalent to the first three chapters here. For this Substack version, I'm going to simplify to whole numbers. No 1.2, etc.

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New Best Spellbook Description of All Time.

...Is that an acronym?

Shouldn't it be?

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Great opening, Camila. I got real Neuromancer vibes from this. Very intrigued to know where it's going.

Sorry for being so slow getting here!

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What a good egg you are, Nathan.:) Thank you. Enjoy it. The Acton has many twists and turns.

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Btw, what I loved about Case was the loneliness you hear in his voice. In this sense, Lars is his grandchild...but just wait. Lol...

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Thanks! Enjoy :)

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The names Lars/Miggi got me. So quintessentially noir. Great start

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Thanks, Michael! Lars is a strong name. Miggi is a diminutive of Miguel, Michael in Spanish. :)

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i really dig noir and weird sublime tales. definitely piqued my interest and drew me in with the main character and the atmosphere. cant wait to see what will happen next.

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Great start, good writing. Your reading was on point, I listened to the audio version.

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